MELEAGER--THE CALYDONIAN HUNT.
_Ques._ What was the story of this prince?
_Ans._ Meleager was the son of Oeneus and Althea, king and queen of
Calydon. After his birth, the Fates entered the chamber of Althea, and
foretold that the life of the child should expire with a billet of
wood then burning on the hearth. Althea immediately seized and
quenched the brand, which she secured in an oaken chest. Meleager had
already attained the years of manhood when he took part in the
expedition generally known as the Calydonian hunt. Oeneus had, upon
one occasion, in offering sacrifice to the gods, neglected the honors
due to Diana, and the goddess, in revenge, sent a wild boar of
enormous size to lay waste the fields of Calydon. The boldest hunters
feared to attack the monster, whose eyes shone with fire, while its
bristles stood erect like spears, and its tusks resembled those of an
Indian elephant. The cornfields and vineyards were trampled down in
its path, and the terrified husbandmen everywhere fled in dismay. At
length Meleager called on the heroes of Greece to join in a hunt and
destroy the common foe. There came on the appointed day, Castor and
Pollux, Theseus and his friend Pirothous, Peleus, afterwards father of
Achil´les, Telamon, father of Ajax, Nestor, then a youth, and many
others of heroic fame. All eyes were, however, attracted by the fair
huntress Atalanta. Her girdle was of burnished gold, an ivory quiver
hung from her shoulder, and she carried a bow in her left hand.
They soon reached the monster's lair. Roused by the baying hounds, he
rushed forth, trampling down and slaying the nearest huntsmen. In vain
Jason threw his spear, praying that Diana might guide his arm. It
glanced aside, and the weapon of Telamon proved equally harmless,
while Nestor was obliged to seek safety in the branches of a tree. The
first wound was inflicted by an arrow from the bow of Atalanta.
Meleager, following up this advantage, despatched the monster with his
spear. The heroes crowded around to congratulate the victor, who
offered the head of the boar and the bristling hide to Atalanta. The
huntress accepted the trophies, but the uncles of Meleager, indignant
that a woman should bear off the honors of the day, snatched them
rudely from her. Meleager forgot, in his anger, the ties of kindred,
and slew the offenders on the spot.
As Althea was going to the temple to return thanks for her son's
victory she beheld the bodies of her murdered brothers. When she
learned that they had fallen by the hand of Meleager, the Furies took
possession of her soul. Entering hastily into the palace, she
snatched the fatal brand, so long preserved, and cast it into the
flames. At the same moment Meleager started with sudden pain, his
strength ebbed away, and as the brand fell to ashes, the soul of the
hero was breathed forth on the light winds.
When the deed was accomplished Althea killed herself in despair. The
sisters of Meleager wept his loss, until Diana, pitying their sorrow,
changed them into birds called Meleagrides.
NISUS AND SCYLLA.
_Ques._ Relate the story of their transformation?
_Ans._ Nisus was king of Megara; this city was closely besieged by
Minos, but all his efforts were vain, as the Fates had decreed that it
should not be taken, so long as a purple lock which grew on the head
of Nisus, remained uncut. Scylla, the daughter of this prince, admired
the majestic person of Minos, and the valor which he displayed.
Believing that he would reward her treachery by making her his queen,
she cut the fatal lock while her father slept. Minos received the gift
with horror, and, when the city was taken, refused to permit Scylla to
accompany him to Crete. In despair, she clung to the prow of his ship;
but Nisus, who had just been transformed into a hawk, swooped down
upon her from the sky. Scylla cast herself into the sea, and was
transformed at the same moment into a lark.
ERISICHTHON.
_Ques._ Who was Erisichthon?
_Ans._ He was a profane person and a despiser of the gods. There stood
in a grove sacred to Ceres, a stately oak which overtopped the trees
around as they did the garden shrubs. Erisichthon commanded his
attendants to fell the tree, and when they hesitated, he snatched an
axe himself, and struck the sacred wood. Blood flowed from the wounded
trunk, and a voice from the Dryad dwelling in the oak, warned him of
the punishment which awaited his impiety. Erisichthon persisted in his
crime, and at length the tree, severed by repeated blows, and drawn
with ropes, sunk to the ground, prostrating half the grove in its
fall. The indignant Dryades went to Ceres in mourning garb, and
invoked vengeance on the head of their impious foe. The goddess was
moved, and delivered Erisichthon into the power of Famine. As the
Fates had decreed that this goddess and Ceres should never meet, an
Oread was sent to the ice-clad plains of Scythia, where Famine chiefly
dwelt. Arriving at Mount Caucasus, the nymph found her in a stony
field, tearing up with teeth and claws the scanty herbage. The pale
goddess obeyed the command of Ceres, and visiting the dwelling of
Erisichthon, she breathed upon him as he slept. Awaking he craved
food, but the more he consumed, the more his hunger raged. In vain
the unhappy man spent all his substance to obtain relief; he was
reduced to misery and famished as before. He had one daughter called
Mestra, an only child, whom he sold to procure food. The maiden
scorned to be a slave, and standing with her purchaser on the
sea-shore, she lifted her hands, and invoked the aid of Neptune. The
god immediately changed her form, so that she appeared to be an aged
fisherman mending nets.
The master, strangely surprised at the sudden disappearance of his
slave, questioned the supposed fisherman. Mestra replied that she had
seen no one, and he proceeded to search for the fugitive elsewhere.
She then resumed her own form, and returned to her father, who was
well pleased to find that he had still both his daughter and the money
for which he had sold her. He again resorted to this base expedient,
but as often as Mestra was sold, she was transformed, by the favor of
Neptune, now into a horse, now an ox, and now a stag; and so escaped
from her purchaser.
All means proved insufficient to supply the wants of the unhappy
Erisichthon, who was compelled by hunger to devour his own flesh
before death came to end his misery.